Cacophony Forums
Unofficial Mackie User Forums => The Mackie Forums Refugee Camp => Topic started by: djjd on February 11, 2014, 09:18:40 PM
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Hi all,
In 2011 I bought an SRM1801. After using it for about 5 times spread through the year (20 hours in total) it broke down. The company sent a replacement one. This one broke after just 2 hours. The sub would go in thermal protection after only a few minutes even at low SPLs. The company fixed it and noted the problem was "Dry joint reflowed on the PSU". After another year and about 15 hours use, it broke again. The symptom was the same--thermal protection after few minutes. They are now still fixing it. In the meantime I rented the exact same model from a hiring company, and... guess what? Same thermal protection problem after just 1 hour of use.
To summarise, in around 50 hours of use, three different SRM1801 broke in my rig (one of them broke twice, so 4 in total).
Now, (a) the SRM1801 is the crappiest sub ever produced, (b) I am ..very very unlucky or (c) there is something wrong with my setup that causes Mackie subs to break. I am assuming (c) and I am writing to ask you guys what do you think might be the reason.
Note that:
1) The sub always had plenty of space behind it (~2 meters).
2) I don't overload the sub. I try to always keep it well below clipping.
3) I am driving it with a DJM800 via XLRs.
4) I am connecting two Wharfedale speakers to the High-Pass (the Wharfedale have always been fine when connected directly to the DJM800).
5) A 400W monitor speaker seats directly on top of the subwoofer (no stand).
6) The rig is always in the same place connected to the same electrical sockets.
Now, since I already excluded all the obvious explanations, I am left with the unbelievable ones: (a) some type of mechanical coupling between the monitor speaker and the subwoofer that makes the PSU shake too much; (b) bad grounding of the sub's electrical plug; (c) bad grounding of the DJM800 or the Wharfedales (can a problem like this even pass through the XLR?).
Do you have any other explanation? How do you suggest I troubleshoot this?
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The SRM1801 was a rebadge of the lower end (is that even possible?) Tapco/Mackie Thump sub which was a complete piece of shit. After you get that sub repaired, I'd recommend selling it while it still works and getting something decent. That sub has had all sorts of problems since it's inception. Don't bother trying to figure out the problems. They're inherent.
http://www.mackie.com/products/th-18s/